The Kildare-born rider Barry Heffernan was hit with a 10-day ban for using his whip with excessive frequency and unnecessarily after springing a 16 to 1 surprise aboard Pat O'Leary's Snow Shine in the Annagassan Maiden Hurdle at Dundalk last evening.
Heffernan (25), whose last winner in the plate was recorded at Wexford in December 1998, was also instructed to attend the apprentice school (RACE) after he persisted with his whip when holding an unassailable lead over Silver Frontier on the run-in to the two-and-a-half mile contest.
"I have worked with Pat (O'Leary) since I came home from abroad and I wasn't taking any chances," said Heffernan. Chateau Line, a winner over seven furlongs at the Galway Festival last year, heads for Ballybrit again next week after making every yard a winning one in the hands of Declan McDonogh in the nine-furlong Jimmy Murray Celebration Handicap.
Eddie Ahern, successful aboard Noel Meade's filly Alyska in the Milgrove Maiden, was denied a double later aboard locally-trained Kharshani when Pat Shanahan and Lucky Bet got up close home to score for Curragh trainer, Irene Oakes.
On a night when the layers enjoyed the better of the exchanges, punters had to wait until the concluding bumper for the first favourite to oblige when Philip Rothwell's newcomer Indalo Grey scored under Ian Amond.
